I think we need to review something here
and that is how traction devices help
first, open diffs are what comes standard in 99 percent of vehicles, they are designed to let the axle release traction from one side so it can do turns and such, and release it does, going strait down a perfect road it delivers 50/50 torque. When in a turn it starts to deliver the power to the wheel with the least amount of traction. that is why it can get stuck, Torque applied is still a 50 /50 split but the HP is now on all the slipping wheel. if that wheel is slipping at 2 pounds of torque and it is going take 50 pounds to unstick the other wheel, it will never see that as only 4 pounds will be developed causing the stuck wheel to remain stuck and the free wheel to spin. why this works on road so good is the side with least traction will have drag from the low shear surface of the pavement. But in the dirt that drag can disappear quick.
( We must remember the difference between torque and horsepower here)
Now a
Limited slip through either gears, clutches, ABS system (Toyota's ATRAC System) do the opposite of a open diff, they deliver the power to the tire with the most traction. how this is done is in the clutches or gears, they use those to create friction and use up torque, they are fighting to keep the tires turning at the same speed, so now they allow the torque to develop and tire with the most traction turns as the clutches or gears in the
Limited slip device eat keep the slipping side from moving till the traction side is turning at the same speed. (that is what is suppose to happen in a perfect situation) so now we have our 50/50 split of torque from the drag of the friction devise in the
Limited slip and the drag and friction of the other wheels surface it is on. Getting a tire in the air creates a non drag area and sometimes tricks such as a fanned foot are used to get that
Limited slip to work, remember the world is not perfect. But over all a person used to driving a
Limited slip can get them to perform really good in a lot of tricky situations.
Limited slips were not designed to be lockers.
True lockers, we do not need to get into how they lock here. lock that diff together so that it is forced to make each wheel turn at the same rate. here is no question on how or why each tire gets the 50/50 split of torque and therefore being locked to the other wheel receives it's split of HP. What this translates into is both tires turn at the same rate always while the locker is engaged.
So, want to know what is best?
what is the best while on the street?
or what is the most transparent on the street?
Face one fact though, dirt and street are opposites so what works best on the street works least in the dirt.
Limited slips were designed for the street and work great off road. I grew up using them, Lockers were designed for heavy equipment in the dirt, we get the benefit of that research in our hobby but street wise they are a compromise.
follow this link, select the middle video, the traction demonstration, and see what happens with each type of setup
(I am not pimping Richmond gear, they just have a good video.}
POWERTRAX BY RICHMOND VIDEO DEMOS